No Office Hours Wednesday Afternoon

E-mail me if you have something that can’t wait until tomorrow. Philosophy of Mind papers are due in class tomorrow.

Election Tomorrow

Go vote!

Moral Relativism

In Ethics, Friday, I sketched out an argument against moral relativism that appeals to the standard argument for moral relativism. The following is a typical argument for moral relativism:

1. There is widespread disagreement about ethical claims.
2. There is no rational way to settle this disagreement.
3. If there is no rational way to settle a disagreement concerning a claim, then we should deny that such claims are objectively true.
4. Therefore, ethical claims are not objectively true.

So, for any moral claim, that claim then there is at least one conceptual scheme in which that claim is true and at least one in which that claim is false. If this argument for moral relativism is convincing, then one should be equally convinced of this argument against moral relativism:

1. There is widespread disagreement about moral relativism.
2. There is no rational way to settle this disagreement.
3. If there is no rational way to settle a disagreement concerning a claim, then we should deny that such claims are objectively true.
4. Therefore, moral relativism is not objectively true.

Why should a claim that something is not objectively true bother someone who rejects objective truth?

Moral relativists are committed to the claim that moral truths are dependent on conceptual schemes, but if that claim is itself dependent on one’s conceptual scheme, then there is a conceptual scheme in which moral relativism is false. So, there is at least one conceptual scheme in which it is true that moral claims are true in every conceptual scheme. The only way that can be true is if moral truths are in fact true in every conceptual scheme. So, moral relativism is false.

Richard Dawkins and Harry Potter

It’s interesting that the prominent atheist Richard Dawkins is now claiming that reading J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books is dangerous for children.

I never thought I would see Richard Dawkins taking the same position as conservative Christians.

Philosophy Club

The philosophy club meets tonight in the Faculty Lounge at 7:30. Given that it’s now 6:30, I suppose this announcement is a bit late.

Consciousness

In Philosophy of Mind today, I claimed that the ability to respond to the environment meant that an organism was at least minimally conscious. Michael Novotny then asked if that entailed that certain mechanisms were conscious. For example, a trap door opens when a certain weight is place on it. It seems to be responding to the environment, so does that mean that it is conscious? If not, then what’s wrong with my claim about the condition for minimal consciousness?

Indifference

I passed a church this morning that had this statement on the sign: “Indifference Not Hate.” I’m curious what is meant by this, is it supposed to be a statement of reassurance to the community? “It’s not that we hate you, we really just don’t care….” Would you rather be hated or simply ignored? At least hate is an acknowledgment of the existence and importance of the other person.

Academic Reference Software

If you have writing projects that require footnotes, endnotes, bibliographies, or other kinds of references, you should consider getting some kind of reference manager software. Short papers with a few references are easy enough to manage with a word processor alone, but significant projects can easily be overwhelming. There is enough pain in academic writing that one does not need the extra suffering caused by having to make sure that every work cited is included in the bibliography, that the entries are all in alphabetical order, and that the notes and bibliography entries are all in the right format. A reference manager can do all of this automatically. Unfortunately, they’re generally very expensive.

The good news is that Third Street Software just released an undergraduate edition of its reference manager software, Sente. The individual library size is limited to 250 entries, but that should be sufficient for most student writing. It’s also Mac OS X only, but now you have one more way to convince you parents that you really need that new Mac notebook: “I know it seems more expensive now, but I promise that it will save you money in the long run….” Good luck, let me know if it works.

Consumer Pornography

Prophetic thought for the day from Mark Woods, editor of Britain’s Baptist Times, in a column for Ethics Daily.com:

“The glossy lifestyle magazines which are such a feature of weekend papers are consumer pornography, designed to titillate us with longings for what most of us can never have, and those of us who can will never need.”

Concern for the Middle Class and Matthew 25

Both presidential candidates seem to be stressing the importance of adopting policies that are good for the middle class. I have to admit that such talk resonates with me, probably because I am a member of the middle class. Today, though, I saw a title of a blog post by Adam Taylor that is making me rethink my assumptions about the priority of the middle class.

It was titled “Just as You Did for the Middle Class, You Also Did for Me.”

Ouch…